Google – €600,000 Fine (Belgium, 2020)

The complainant, who plays a role in public life in Belgium, applied to Google Belgium for the deletion of search results linked to his name on the search engine (so-called "de-listed"). Part of the pages that he wanted to be de-listed suggested his political preferences, which he refutes. A second part relates to a complaint of harassment against the complainant, which was dismissed several years before. Google has decided not to de-list any of the pages in question. - Competence of the Belgian DPA over Google BE - Who is the controller, the main establishment (Google Ire, or Google LLC ?) , and what is the role of Google BE ? Can The DPA impose a fine against Google BE ? - Delisting of the two categories of results (see here under) I. On the Competence In that case, Google argued that the complaint cannot be founded because it is brought against Google Belgium,whereas the controller is not Google's Belgian subsidiary, but Google LLC, based in California. The Litigation Chamber did not follow this argument. In its view, the activities of Google Belgium and Google LLC are inextricably linked and, consequently, the Belgian subsidiary may be held liable. This is crucial to ensure full and effective protection of the GDPR, as it is difficult for a DPA in Europe to exercise effective control and impose sanctions on a company located in the United States. On the other hand, the Litigation Chamber followed Google's argument that its principal place of business in Europe (Google Ireland) is not responsible for the delisting. Regarding the pages concerning the political preferences of the complainant, the Litigation Chamber of the BE DPA considered that, given the complainant's role in public life, the maintenance of such listing was necessary in the public interest and thus ruled in Google's favour. II. On the delisting Regarding the pages concerning the complaint against the complainant, the BE DPA believes that the request for delisting is well-founded and that G